OPSEU, CUPE bring AI language into contract talks but arbitration ruling shows employer resistance: report
Unions representing tens of thousands of Ontario public-sector workers are working to build artificial intelligence safeguards into several sets of contract negotiations, as workers raise concerns about how Crown agencies intend to use the technology.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), which represents more than 200,000 public-sector workers, told Global News that language on current or potential AI use is being brought to almost every bargaining table in the province.
“The implication of AI becomes more and more clear in almost every sector we represent,” OPSEU president JP Hornick said. “We have teams working on bargaining guides around AI in almost every area I can think of.”
Hornick said the union’s main concerns include job losses, the replacement of job functions and the possibility that employers will use AI to monitor work.
“We don’t want to see AI rolled out without workers’ voices being present,” he told Global News.
CUPE sets out demands
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents nearly 310,000 workers in Ontario, has also drawn up AI bargaining guidelines so protective language can be negotiated into collective agreements, according to Global News. Local bargaining units are being asked to look into how AI is appearing in their workplaces, identify potential risks and review their collective agreements for clauses that deal with the technology.
Among CUPE’s demands are that employers be barred from collecting or using biometric data, emotional or facial recognition tools, or any “human behaviour manipulation tool,” said the report.
The union is also seeking language guaranteeing that AI systems remain under human control and that employees will not be subject to decisions made entirely by AI.
CUPE previously laid out its approach in a 2025 bargaining guide Bargaining strong collective agreements for the digital age, which argues there is no single “AI clause” that can protect workers. Instead, the union says, locals need to review their entire collective agreement and build up protections over successive rounds of bargaining.
The guide also recommends that workers have the right to a full explanation of any decision an AI system makes about them, that AI systems not be used in discipline or discharge, and that no-contracting-out language be used to stop employers from handing bargaining unit work over to AI, CUPE says.
Arbitration board rejects AI notice proposal
OPSEU has already run into resistance. In an award dated Aug. 17, 2026, a three-member interest arbitration board chaired by Colin Johnston turned down the union’s proposal on artificial intelligence. The board was setting the terms of a renewal collective agreement between OPSEU and the participating hospitals, represented by the Ontario Hospital Association.
The arbitration took place under Ontario’s Hospital Labour Disputes Arbitration Act. It covered 65 bargaining units at 57 hospitals across the province, representing 14,000 allied and paramedical employees, according to the award. The agreement runs for two years, from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2027. Hearings were held in March, followed by executive sessions between May and July.
AI was one of about 20 non-wage issues OPSEU brought to the board, listed in the award under “technological change – artificial intelligence.” The union sought language requiring hospitals to give it notice whenever they anticipated using AI.
The board found no need to change the agreement’s existing technological change article. It said the current wording is broad enough to capture changes related to AI, and that requiring notice of anticipated AI use would be too onerous for hospitals.
“The use of A.I. in high-tech equipment is ubiquitous and is often guarded as intellectual property by third parties. It would be nearly impossible for hospitals to comply with notice requirements for the ‘anticipated use’ of A.I.,” the board wrote.
The board also rejected OPSEU’s proposal for stricter limits on contracting out bargaining unit work. It said the current language, which restricts contracting out when it leads to layoffs, gives enough protection.
The award did grant OPSEU general wage increases of 3 per cent for 2025 and 2.25 per cent for 2026, along with new wage grids for respiratory therapists and perfusionists and several benefit improvements. Both the union and hospital nominees on the board filed dissents, but neither addressed the AI ruling directly.
Province says AI will help modernize public service
In late 2024, the Ford government introduced directives setting out how ministries and agencies are expected to use AI tools, Global News noted. The directives, which also apply to all public-service workers, require that AI use be “human rights affirming,” transparent and accountable.
The Treasury Board Secretariat, which oversees labour relations between the government and the public service, told Global News that AI gives the Ontario Public Service (OPS) tools to “modernize” and “improve how we work.” A spokesperson said the OPS is using AI to drive innovation while making sure it is used safely and responsibly to protect the interests of the people and businesses of Ontario.
Asked by Global News whether unions are right to be concerned about AI in the public service, a spokesperson for Treasury Board president Kinga Surma said, “Issues that may be raised in collective bargaining are matters to be addressed by the parties through the negotiation process.”
